Sidney Crosby is a player, so it makes sense that he'd side with players in the NHL lockout.

But Day 59 of the work stoppage brought more from Pittsburgh Penguins captain, who has gotten progressively less optimistic in his public comments over the last two months.

"The desperation to play doesn't really seem like it's on (the owners) side," he told reporters in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. "I think there's a deal to be made and I think negotiations have to go better if there's going to be a deal. If it keeps going like this, I mean, everybody's going to lose. There's no way around it, everybody's going to lose."

Crosby also got specific in his issues with individual player contracting rights, which have emerged as a new stumbling block—or leverage point, depending on your opinion. The league told the union Sunday during its last round of failed negotiations that a few issues weren't negotiable: five-year limits on deals, five-percent max variance on salaries and rules designed to stop players from scoring big second deals.

"To have contracting rights, it doesn't have anything to do with....it's not money, it's the rights as a player within your profession, so that's what I think guys are definitely going to stand strong on," Crosby said. "And it's ridiculous to try to change that after the success of the league that everybody's had here the last seven or eight years."

"It's just frustrating," he said. "You kind of hear the same things coming out of the meetings all the time. Just waiting to hear something new from their side. It's almost to the point where you don't want to ask because you know you're going to get the same answer you got a week before.

"There's no reason we can't figure something out. I really want to be optimistic. It's not easy right now. It's just a roller coaster ... I don't know what's going to happen."